Fun on the Water on Easter Sunday – 27 March 2016

March 27, 2016

Today was the final day of the RORC Easter Challenge and starting today’s racing, we were leading class 4 by only 0.5 points. The forecast was again windy today, so the RORC race committee decided to sail one race this morning.

The Fast 40 class started at 10am, with a reaching start heading towards the Eastern Solent. We watched them raise their spinnakers just after the start and they began to fly/plain very fast! It was a very impressive sight seeing them sail so fast. We started our race at 10.20am and today, they started classes 3 and 4 together. We had an exciting start near the pin end of the line and this left us clear to raise our spinnaker immediately, as we had no boats to leeward of us that could interfere with us. We had a very exciting run down to North East Ryde Middle. Winsome really took off and we saw wind speeds up to 32 knots! Joost H. did an excellent job trimming the spinnaker, Leen on the main (assisted by Joost N. standing on the boom to ensure the main did not gybe) John Coffey on the guy and Boj was also continually trimming the kicker/vang to ensure that we remained relatively stable! When the wind increased to 32 knots, we decided it was time to drop the spinnaker. The bow team (Floris and Joost) and assisted by Herman, did an excellent job dropping the spinnaker in the strong winds.

Having started with class 3 (we are in class 4 this regatta), we rounded the first mark in front of all the class 3 boats which was a very nice surprise! We rounded the mark and headed upwind in strong gusty conditions. The race committee decided to shorten the race, so we had a long beat to finish. Harry navigated us to the finish line and as we approached the windward mark, we were able to get into the calmer sea and slightly less wind near the Isle of Wight. Thankfully we finished, as 2nd boat of the combined classes 3&4 on the water, the race safe and sound and had no damage to Winsome.

The team was delighted to win race 5 today and win overall, with four 1^st places and one 4^th place. It was a great first event of the season and we are looking forward to an enjoyable 2016 sailing season on Winsome.

We prepared Winsome for the 1^st offshore race of the season, which will be the RORC Cervantes race on 30^th April and then headed off to the RORC prize giving.

Thanks very much to Harry from all the crew for making this all possible and thanks to all the Winsome crew at this regatta (Harry, Leen, Joost H, Joost N, Boj, Floris, Herman, John and Laura) for a very enjoyable weekend.

Thanks also to the RORC and the RORC race team for organizing and hosting the event, thanks to Stuart Childerley (Race officer) and his on the water race team for some great racing, thanks to North sails for the coaching and sponsoring the event and thanks to Jim Saltonstall for the coaching and sailing tips.

Full results of the weekend can be found on the RORC website https://www.rorc.org/raceresults/2016/rec-fouros.html and additional details at https://www.rorc.org/squally-sunday-tests-rorc-easter-challenge-competitors.html

Laura

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-8_vtHRcBQ&w=560&h=315]